The Gardener LV: It Was Mid-Day

It was mid-day when you went
away .
    The sun was strong in the sky.
    I had done my work and sat alone
on my balcony when you went away.
    Fitful gusts came winnowing
through the smells of may distant
fields.
    The doves cooed tireless in the shade,
and a bee strayed in my room hum-
ming the news of many distant fields.
    The village slept in the noonday
heat. The road lay deserted.
    In sudden fits the rustling of the
leaves rose and died.
    I gazed at the sky and wove in the
blue the letters of a name I had known,
while the village slept in the noonday
heat.
    I had forgotten to braid my hair.
The languid breeze played with it upon
my cheek.
    The river ran unruffled under the
shady bank.
    The lazy white clouds did not move.
    I had forgotten to braid my hair.
    It was mid-day when you went
away.
    The dust of the road was hot and
the fields panting.
    The doves cooed among the dense
leaves.
    I was alone in my balcony when you
went away.